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South Africa spy on Hughes

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This is what Phillip Hughes’ batting looks like, Mickey © Getty Images
 

Phillip Hughes might feel he is part of a reality TV show during Australia’s tour game in Potchefstroom from Friday, with the South Africans sending a cameraman specifically to tape the new opening batsman. Hughes is only 20 and so fresh that the home side’s analysts don’t have any footage of him.Matthew Hayden’s retirement has given Hughes a chance and he will partner Simon Katich during the three Tests. “We obviously know Phil Hughes is a very skilful and talented player but I’m going to have to send a spy down to Potch on Friday so we can have a proper look at him,” Arthur told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I don’t have any video footage of him now but I certainly will have footage of him after this weekend.”Our video analysis chap will be hiding behind the sightscreen in Potch with his camera. If you see a guy behind the sightscreen getting some filming done, you know who it is. I am sending him down.”Phil Hughes hasn’t been around that long and we don’t have a lot of information on him. There are some different faces in this Australian team, and Phil Hughes is the major one for us. I want to know some more and I will by Sunday.” Hughes is not that well known outside of New South Wales after playing 17 first-class games over two seasons and scoring 1570 runs at 60.38.Bryce McGain, the legspinner who missed the team flight on Monday, is another new face, but Arthur met him in Melbourne during the season. “When we were in Australia, we had only just finished training at the MCG … and I recognised this guy who came walking into the nets,” Arthur said. “He introduced himself and it was Bryce McGain.”He came in with a whole bag full of balls and wanted to have one net to himself out on the side. He went over and went through his routines, did his practising. I recognised the face when he started walking over and when he said his name was Bryce McGain, my ears pricked up a bit. I actually went and stood behind the net and watched him for about 15 minutes.”Arthur said McGain “looked quite useful”. “He looked like he could control a game or be an attacking option,” Arthur said. “He bowled a good googly. I was impressed, to be honest.”

Vettori praises fresh faces

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Grant Elliott’s composure impressed his captain Daniel Vettori © Getty Images
 

It used to be Australian players who would begin their international careers with a string of victories before tasting defeat but now New Zealand’s fresh faces are enjoying the same feeling. The captain Daniel Vettori said following his side’s six-wicket triumph at the MCG that a winning culture was starting to develop thanks to their successes against West Indies last month and their 2-0 lead over Australia.”It’s really good for some of our young guys,” Vettori said. “Martin Guptill and Neil Broom haven’t ever lost a game in New Zealand colours. Those sorts of feelings are starting to swirl around the dressing room that we’re starting to get a feel of what it’s like to win. It’s only been three in a row but there’s some good confidence in the team.”Take out their no-result in Auckland and it’s actually four in a row and in the past year, New Zealand have won 14 one-day internationals and lost four. It is an impressive record for a squad that is missing the injured allrounder Jacob Oram and the batsman Scott Styris.Even more pleasing for Vettori was that two of their newer faces, Grant Elliott and Neil Broom, got New Zealand home at the MCG with a 50-run partnership from 44 balls. They reached their target of 226 with seven deliveries to spare and both men struck boundaries at important times when a few dot balls could have given Australia a real chance.”They’ve probably got about 15, 16 games between them, but they looked so composed and so mature and led us to a comfortable victory in the end,” Vettori said. “The big thing with Neil is to get him to play his natural game. When he starts thinking about things he probably clutters himself a little bit.”While it was New Zealand’s less experienced players who got them home, Australia relied heavily on the older heads of Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey in a batting order that again was a little too fragile. It has been difficult for Australia to maintain their aura following the retirements of key players and Vettori said the changing nature of Australia’s side was a bonus for his squad.”For a lot of our younger guys they grew up watching a lot of the Australian players, guys that have recently retired,” he said. “A lot of the guys we’re playing now, some of our guys have played in A-teams and emerging players teams so they have a better understanding than just turning up and finding a guy that they’ve idolised for the last 15 years.”One such man is Ricky Ponting, who is resting, and his stand-in captain Clarke faces the challenge of sparking his team into a winning unit in Sydney on Sunday after five consecutive losses – one more and they will hand over the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. He will do so without Shaun Tait, who has been released from the squad to deal with a hamstring problem, although Clarke himself is likely to play after suffering a painful blow on the toe while compiling his 98.He and Michael Hussey, who built a 133-run stand, both fell in the final five overs when Australia needed to build on their solid platform. Clarke conceded that their inability to lift their rate after a conservative start was a major factor in posting a total that was too small.”It always makes the job harder when you lose a couple of wickets early,” Clarke said. “I guess with the batting I think we were probably 20 or 30 short and I take responsibility for that. If I’d turned my innings into 130 it’s a different game.”

Workload doubts for key Australians

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Ricky Ponting: “We’re all going to have to make a judgment call closer to the time the IPL comes around” © Getty Images
 

Ricky Ponting has raised questions over whether Australia’s main players will decide against going to the Indian Premier League and rest instead ahead of the four-month England tour. As more of the country’s major performers, including Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shaun Tait and Stuart Clark, nominated for the Twenty20 auction on February 6, Ponting wondered how the two-week break between a one-day series against Pakistan and the start of the Twenty20 World Cup would be spent.”It’s a fair way away. We’re all going to have to make a judgment call closer to the time the IPL comes around,” Ponting said in the Australian.”We might only be able to play the last two weeks and a lot of the franchises we play for might have no chance of making the finals. There’s all those sorts of things that need to be taken into consideration and worked out between the player and the franchises.”Ponting, who is signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders, has not had a break since the Test tour of India, which began in September. The IPL is due to start in April and Australia’s Twenty20 players need to be in England at the end of May. By then many of them will have appeared in a one-day series against Pakistan, probably at a neutral venue.Those in all three formats will stay in England until the end of September before preparing for the Champions Trophy and the home summer. Player workload has become a key issue in the Australian Cricketers’ Association’s memorandum of understanding negotiations with Cricket Australia, with the players pushing for fewer promotional appearances as part of their contracts.

India take series after dull draw

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Gautam Gambhir was the Man of the Match for his performance with the bat in both innings, scoring 179 and 97 © Getty Images
 

As expected, the Mohali Test petered out to a draw with Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh getting some functional but meaningless batting practice on a hollow final day. Neither got to their centuries and India’s declaration left England a hypothetical 403 to win or, more pragmatically, 44 overs to bat.Ishant Sharma removed Alastair Cook cheaply, but that was as good as it got for India – Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss denied them further success, batting out the remainder of the Test.The fourth innings was but a formality. Cook nicked Ishant Sharma to VVS Laxman at second slip, and an out-of-form Bell poked and prodded, shuffled and swayed against pace and spin to accompany Strauss to the close. The match was dissolving into a farce when Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought himself on to bowl slow dibbly-dobblers, after which the umpires called off play.Resuming on 134 for 4, India added 82 without fuss in a truncated 13-over morning session after thick fog delayed play by two-and-a-half hours. Gambhir and Yuvraj started cautiously before opening up with a range of aggressive strokes, Yuvraj fetching himself three sixes.By the time lunch was taken, India’s run rate for the morning was well over six and the way Yuvraj, especially, and Gambhir were batting, it appeared a spent England were cruising towards a bruising. Instead the two batsmen came out of the interval quite content to bide their time, but England snapped up three wickets.If Bell’s demolition of the stumps yesterday snubbed Virender Sehwag before he could ignite, his direct hit cut Yuvraj short of a century. Yuvraj swept the ball towards short fine leg and Bell swooped in to nail down the stumps with an accurate throw after Yuvraj had turned back.Eight deliveries later, England saw the back of Dhoni, who handed Monty Panesar his easiest wicket on a thoroughly disappointing tour. Bell then stunningly intercepted a loose cut to his left at backward point, leaving Gambhir short of his hundred by three runs and prompting India to declare.For practical purposes, it should have happened earlier, after Yuvraj and Gambhir batted England out of contention. India had dug themselves into a pattern of nervous watchfulness yesterday afternoon, their strenuous approach numbing a sparse crowd into a coma, but Yuvraj’s sparkling innings before stumps had livened up proceedings.This morning, as the gloom steadily cleared, Yuvraj carried on in the same vein and succeeded in drawing some aggression from Gambhir too, whose bat had attracted barnacles on day four.Yuvraj grabbed the initiative with a medley of punchy drives and slogs, including one particularly disdainful six off James Anderson. The last couple of Yuvraj’s sixes came against his old sparring partner Broad and recalled images of famous over in Durban, when he hit six in a row.First came an audacious shot, a front-foot, flat-batted bludgeon over mid-on, and then a scoop over backward point. Broad then bowled a clever wide yorker which Yuvraj edged to third man for a single, and Gambhir saw out the over.India’s decision to come out after lunch will draw plenty of debate. The two set batsmen had already shoved England into a deep corner, and it appeared the only reason to continue batting was to hunt individual records.In the end, neither Gambhir nor Yuvraj raised landmarks while India scored just 35 runs in the last 10 overs. After the thriller in Chennai, it was the weather, ultimately, that scuppered what could have been a great Test.

FICA welcomes ICC's security initiatives

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The executive committee of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) discussed a variety of issues including security, overseas players in English cricket and the future structure of the game, when it met in Kuala Lumpur last week.Security was the most pressing item on the agenda. “FICA recognises the seriousness of the growing instability in some parts of the cricketing world,” Jimmy Adams, FICA’s president, said. “It is the role of FICA and its player associations to play a positive role in doing everything possible to ensure that cricket matches and events are played in the safest possible environments and provide the most applicable security arrangements to protect the safety of players.”Tim May, FICA’s chief executive, welcomed the announcement by the ICC that the scope of the Anti Corruption and Security Unit would be broadened to encompass player safety. He added that FICA would recommend to the ICC that this group conduct a security workshop to consider key feedback from players, security experts and other sporting bodies in developing appropriate templates for security.The executive also discussed new regulations regarding work permits for players wishing to play in England from 2009, and said it would ” seek to discuss the finer details of the Rules with the ECB to ensure that players throughout the world will have a voice of input into any future review of these rules”.It also backed the ICC’s Future Tours Programme proposal for 2012 onwards, “specifically its desire to give Test and other forms of cricket more structure and context within the games international calendar”.While welcoming the new ICC Anti-Doping Policy, which will come into force on January 1, FICA “stressed the need for the ICC to ensure that all countries adopt timely and appropriate education of all of its players … particularly in the circumstance where such member does not currently have its own domestic Anti Doping Policy”.

New Zealand lose but find some positives

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Scorecard

Chris Martin picked up 3 for 16 from 11 overs © Getty Images
 

New Zealand slid to a six-wicket defeat but there were positive signs ahead of the first Test as Brendon McCullum was cleared of a broken foot and Jesse Ryder returned to the action following his mystery illness. Chris Martin also found some bowling form and picked up 3 for 16 as New South Wales reached their target of 162 with six wickets in hand.The result was not ideal for New Zealand in their only warm-up match before the Test starts on Thursday but the bright spot was the good news on the fitness of McCullum and Ryder. McCullum had just posted an entertaining half-century when he was struck on the left foot by a Grant Lambert yorker shortly before lunch.He was out soon after for 54 and went to hospital for x-rays, which revealed no fracture, although he did not keep wicket in the New South Wales chase. McCullum had already handed over the gloves to Aaron Redmond in the first innings due to back spasms, although that problem had eased by the time McCullum batted.In the second innings the wicketkeeping duties went first to Ryder, who also bowled three overs late in the day. Ryder’s improved health was another positive for New Zealand after he spent the past couple of days ill and quarantined from his team-mates.He picked up a catch behind the stumps when Peter Forrest edged his attempted hook off Iain O’Brien for 26. O’Brien’s strike was sandwiched between three breakthroughs from Martin, who was keen to bowl plenty of overs having missed the recent tour of Bangladesh due to injury. Martin trapped Phillip Hughes lbw for 8 and later added Usman Khawaja, who was bowled for a laborious 24, and Moises Henriques (18).It left New South Wales at 4 for 79 and gave the visitors hope of a surprise win but an unbeaten 83-run stand between the unrelated Steven Smith and Daniel Smith got the Blues over the line. The highly-rated allrounder Steven Smith added an unbeaten 37 to his first-innings half-century and his three wickets, while his wicketkeeping namesake finished on 42 not out.Despite the best efforts of Martin and tight bowling from Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori, defending an advantage of 161 was always going to be a tough ask. New Zealand had been dismissed for 256 at the end of the first session as the teenage fast bowler Josh Hazlewood added two wickets to his two first-innings breakthroughs on debut.Hazlewood bowled Vettori for 73 and then ended the final partnership when O’Brien (14) was trapped in front. In between Hazlewood’s strikes, New Zealand found a spark through McCullum, who brought up his half-century with two sixes in an over from the legspin of Steven Smith.Whether or not McCullum keeps wicket during the first Test against Australia, his batting form will be a key to New Zealand’s chances at the Gabba. But with Redmond, Ryder and Ross Taylor all struggling to post decent scores, New Zealand still have some batting concerns to address before they meet Ricky Ponting’s men.

Tafadzwa Madondo killed in motorbike accident

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Tafadzwa Madondo, who was a leading schoolboy cricketer and rugby player before emigrating to New Zealand where he forged a successful career in real estate and modelling, has died after a motorbike accident while on holiday in Indonesia. He was 27.Madondo’s older brother, Trevor, who was the first black batsman to be picked for Zimbabwe, died from malaria at the age of 24 in 2001.Tafadzwa Madondo was regarded by many young black Zimbabweans as an inspirational figure, an example of what was possible. He had the benefits of a privileged education where his sporting prowess was encouraged and developed. Although his skill was as a batsman, his one first-class appearance for Manicaland was as an offspinner who could bat a bit. Soon after he moved to New Zealand where his other careers took off.His body will be flown back to Zimbabwe and he will be buried in Mutare.

Fitness worries and weather take centrestage

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Match facts

Oct 17-21, 2008
Start time 9.30am (0400 GMT)

Matthew Hayden has had a slow start to the series, scoring 0 and 13 in Bangalore © Getty Images
 

Big Picture

After the attritional cricket in Bangalore, where one team dominated much of the contest and the other refused to give in, Mohali – where the pitch isn’t as slow as Bangalore – holds the prospect of a more lively encounter. Both teams will, however, need to rework their plans of attack to land the first punch in the series.The challenge for Australia will be not only to get into a commanding position against India, like they did in Bangalore, but also to close out the match, which they failed to do in the first Test. All of their batsmen, however, with the exceptions of Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke, made runs: Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey scored maiden Test centuries in India, while Shane Watson and Brad Haddin allayed concerns about an untested lower-middle order. Their fast bowlers, Mitchell Johnson and Watson in particular, showed that inexperience in Indian conditions was not a hurdle that couldn’t be cleared.Although India’s batsmen played out the fifth day to secure a draw in Bangalore, the match was really saved on the third evening because of plucky batting from Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. Their batting, however, isn’t a major worry since most batsmen made contributions at some stage of the Test. India’s biggest problem is the fitness of their captain Anil Kumble. He had a poor match in Bangalore, where he bowled 51 overs without a wicket, and struggled with a shoulder injury. He bowled during an indoor net session on Thursday but will decide on his participation in the Test only on the morning of the match.The build-up to the first Test in Bangalore was unusually quiet. By the end of the match, however, tensions were simmering: Zaheer said the Australians were defensive; Ponting brushed aside the comments; and Kumble was writing indignant columns in response to media speculation about his future. Normal service, it seems, has been resumed.

Form guide (last 5 Tests)

India DLWLW
Australia DWDWD

Watch out for

Matthew Hayden: He made a duck and 13 in Bangalore, falling to Zaheer Khan on both occasions, and Australia struggled to score at three runs per over. Hayden’s imposing style of batting will be crucial to the tempo of the Australian innings.Michael Hussey: Hayden and Ponting are Australia’s high-profile batsmen but Hussey is the fulcrum of the line-up. He scored 146 and 31 in the first Test and was done in only by big reverse swing and a freak doosra. His ability to string partnerships together with the lower order ensures extra depth in Australia’s batting line-up. Kumble: If he plays, Kumble will be under intense scrutiny especially after his outburst against the media. The Bangalore Test was only the third match of his career in which he failed to take a wicket. Kumble didn’t bowl until late Australia’s second innings and also dropped two catches.Zaheer and Ishant Sharma: Spin was touted as India’s strength in the lead-up to the series but Zaheer and Ishant took 13 out of 16 Australian wickets in Bangalore. They bowled accurately with the new ball and got the old one to reverse early and unsettle the batsmen.

Team news

If Kumble plays India will name an unchanged XI. However, if he pulls out India are likely to change their two-spinner strategy and play Munaf Patel as the third fast bowler.India (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ishant Sharma.Clark’s elbow injury has given Victoria fast bowler Peter Siddle the opportunity to make his debut. He’s been preferred over left-arm swing bowler Doug Bollinger to complete the four-man pace attack. Cameron White will hold on to the spinner’s spot after a satisfactory performance in Bangalore while Simon Katich’s solid performance as opener will keep Phil Jaques out of the XI.Australia (likely) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Shane Watson, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Cameron White, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Peter Siddle.

Pitch & conditions

It’s been raining in Mohali but the forecast for the Test is more promising. “Heavy rains came down as recently as October 4 and water, two and a half feet deep, collected on the surface which initially affected our ground preparations,” the curator Daljit Singh said. The pitch hasn’t had much sun in the lead-up to the Test and Daljit feared that there might be moisture under the surface which could make it sluggish. A spell of sunshine, however, should bring the bounce back.

Stats & Trivia

  • VVS Laxman averages 128.50 with two half-centuries and a hundred in four innings in Mohali. Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar also average above 50 at this venue.
  • The average per wicket in Mohali is highest for the third innings – 46.77. The average is 35.98 and 41.50 for the first two innings and it dips to 33.27 in the fourth.
  • Since 2000 fast bowlers have averaged 41.72 for their 54 wickets while spinners have taken 52 at 36.28 apiece.
  • India have won two out of the last four Tests played here. They beat England in 2001 and 2006 and drew with New Zealand in 2003 and Pakistan in 2005.

    Quotes

    “They obviously miss the quality of a Shane Warne and a Stuart MacGill. On Indian wickets you definitely need a spinner to come into play, if not in the first innings then certainly in the second. That’s certainly something we will look to cash in on. Having said that, to win a match, we need to get big scores from the batters and every bowler has to contribute.”
    “There was a lot made of the inexperience factor coming here, but all those inexperienced guys showed they are more than capable of performing well at international level.”

    • Tait wants to concentrate on shorter formats

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    Shaun Tait: “I have played three Test matches with a bowling average of 60 plus; I don’t think that’s quite Test class” © AFP
     

    Shaun Tait, the Australian fast bowler, is not looking for a return to Test cricket any time soon and instead wants to focus on the limited-overs formats. Tait’s one-day international record is impressive and he is also a destructive Twenty20 bowler, while his efforts in his Test appearances have been disappointing.”I bowl those express deliveries and the zooming yorkers which are much more effective in one-day cricket,” Tait told . “I don’t think I’m in the Test bracket now. [The public] expect me to do well in one-dayers and Twenty20s and I want to do that on a consistent basis once I make a comeback into the national fold.”Tait made his return to competitive cricket in the ongoing tri-series during Australia A’s tour of India after an eight-month self-imposed absence. He has taken five wickets at 17.40 from three matches. Tait said he had come to know his limitations and did not want to stretch himself too far.”I have played three Test matches with a bowling average of 60 plus; I don’t think that’s quite Test class,” he said. “My one-day average is far better [23.45] and so is my Twenty20 record, so I want to concentrate on those.”Australia A and India A play the final league match of the series on Wednesday before meeting again in the final on Friday. Tait could resume his first-class career when South Australia’s Sheffield Shield campaign kicks off in early October.

    Hussey prepares to shake off winter rust

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    Michael Hussey: “We’ve got to use the Bangladesh series like we’re playing in the Champions Trophy” © Getty Images
     

    The world champions Australia will not take Bangladesh lightly in the three-match series starting in Darwin on Saturday even though they admit to looking ahead to the Champions Trophy. While the tournament is in doubt – a meeting in Dubai was due to determine the venue on Sunday night – Michael Hussey, the vice-captain, said the team would be planning as if it was happening.”There is some uncertainty there, but we’ve got to use the Bangladesh series like we’re playing in the Champions Trophy,” Hussey said during a break in training at Allan Border Field. “From a planning point of view, we want to prepare as well as we can for the Champions Trophy. The Bangladesh series is a great lead-up to that. The guys have had a bit of time off and are a little bit rusty, so it’s going to be important that we use this series well.”While Bangladesh are ranked ninth and not part of the eight-team Champions Trophy schedule, they do have inside knowledge of the Australians. “They’ve really improved a lot and they have an Australian coach in Jamie Siddons, so they will know us well,” Hussey said. Siddons was an assistant with Australia and worked around the team between 2005 and 2007.The squad will be without Ricky Ponting (wrist) and Brett Lee (personal issues) in Darwin while Matthew Hayden is battling a heel problem. However, Hussey has faith in the rest of the outfit to perform without the big names.”Our guys are really keen, we haven’t played for a while now,” he said. “All the guys are jumping out of their skin.”